An upcoming documentary from director
Elliot London looks at the life of a transgender teen living in
Arkansas.
London said he felt the need to tell a
story which would be important to troubled teens after hearing about
the 2010 suicide of Tyler Clementi, an 18-year-old college freshman
who took his own life after being outed as gay on Twitter by his
roommate.
“I did a lot of soul searching and
wrote my darkest moments of being bullied before setting out on a
road trip across the United States to really understand what our LGBT
youth is facing in 2012,” London said. “I met some incredible
people while on this journey. It was two of them that stood out most
to me in helping write a treatment for FRIEND. I honor their
struggles and courage in the two characters that will make this
film.”
London, who is looking to raise $76,000
through a campaign at indiegogo.com in the next 17 days to help
finance his project, earlier released a video profile of one of the
teens, 16-year-old openly gay Joseph, who says he considered suicide
to escape his tormentors.
On Friday, London released a second
clip featuring Ali, a 17-year-old transgender girl whose role model
is Ellen DeGeneres.
“I really love Ellen DeGeneres,”
Ali says in the 3-minute clip. “She's a strong and confident
woman. And she's out and proud about who she is and she doesn't care
if people like it or not.” (The video is embedded on this page.
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(Source: FRIEND
film campaign at indiegogo.com.)